City Hall East, the temporary seat of Los Angeles city government, was cited for 480 fire code violations in 1999, and officials found it had no system to keep track of repairs, according to an audit released Thursday. As a result, City Controller Rick Tuttle recommended creating a process to alert the mayor and City Council of continuing problems.

City Council members ended years of dispute this week by giving a preliminary nod to building and fire code changes that will affect only new homes and structures getting major make-overs. Previous councils had grappled with the question of what homes would be required to have sprinklers, finally applying the requirement to all homes of 2,500 square feet or more.

Prosecutors insist the case has nothing to do with politics and a lot to do with fire codes. Indeed, the six defendants are charged with offenses as mundane as burning waste materials without a permit. But, because of the materials burned in a rural area of the northern San Fernando Valley on Dec. 3, 1983--three 20-foot tall wooden crosses--the talk inevitably turned to politics as the preliminary hearing began Tuesday in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is considering a new fire code that includes a requirement for sprinkler systems in new apartment buildings and a ban on so-called "safe-and-sane" fireworks in unincorporated areas. The supervisors Tuesday voted to hold a public hearing on the matter Sept. 16. The Orange County Fire Department is recommending the fireworks ban, partly because of the successful results reported by some cities that have passed such laws.

Los Angeles Fire Department inspectors warned San Fernando Municipal Court officials Monday that they must prevent the overcrowding that occurs daily in arraignment court, where criminal defendants wait to enter their pleas. In a surprise 10 a.m. inspection prompted by a telephone complaint, fire inspectors cited court officials for two violations of the city fire code--overcrowding and blocking exit aisles--in Division 130, said Chief Michael Fulmis of the department's health and safety division.

To conform with changes in recommended national standards, the city has revised its fire and building codes for new construction. The City Council last week gave final approval to new laws that city staffers said will redefine plumbing and electrical standards. The new electrical code prohibits aluminum as a wiring conductor. The new laws also require that roof coverings be "fire retardant" and that "metal roofing shall not be installed over existing roof materials."

City and county officials have closed a residential hotel in Lomita because of health and fire code violations. The Lomita Hotel on Narbonne Avenue was boarded up by the county Building and Safety Department on Monday, City Administrator Walker J. Ritter said. Neighbors had complained that the two-story building, which is across the street from city and county offices in Lomita, attracted loitering and drug use, Ritter said.

In a development that could undercut the legality of the city's new ban on wood shingle roofs, the state attorney general has issued an opinion declaring that cities do not have authority to impose fire codes more stringent than those of the state. The opinion has irked city fire officials, who have long maintained that wood shake and shingle roofs are extremely dangerous because they are fire prone. "This opinion is not really thought of very well," Donald O.

The management of a Westlake District apartment building was cited last month for fire code violations similar to the ones blamed for the rapid spread of the suffocating fire that killed eight people, fire officials said Tuesday. The violations included faulty smoke detectors and fire doors that had been propped--and even nailed--open, officials said. The owners were ordered in April to place a 24-hour fire watch on the building until the defects were corrected.

The Wildlife Waystation in Sunland-Tujunga, shut down last year during disputes with regulators, has been ordered closed to the public again for alleged fire code violations. The Los Angeles County Fire Department has ordered the 120-acre rehabilitation camp to halt all tours and educational programs, and to stop taking in animals. Fire inspectors also directed the celebrity-supported Waystation to move 29 lions from hillside cages.